[lucky 2]

I think the best placed person to work out if there is a need for concern or not is yourself and your health carers. Your CHN is helping organise a Paed review so I hope that happens soon.
The Paed will order blood tests if concerned about iron levels based on his physical assessment and his diet.
You are following the advice of your chn which sounds good.
It sounds great that no one has been pressuring you to use formula (or have they?) but making ongoing assessments and dealing with problems if and when they happen.
With bfing do you know about switch feeding and breast compressions? This may help with increasing milk intake at the feeds and will help boost calories and maximise your milk supply as it is so needed at the moment when no other food is being taken.
The growth issues for your baby haven't just occured have they? I can't imagine a drop from 75th to 10th percentile happening in the last few months or being overly related to lack of solids at 7.5 months.
A close friend of mine had a worrying time with foods, growth etc, a Paed review helped in making sure baby was really ok (ie no underlying health issues) despite the more unusual growth pattern, I hope this is so for you.
All the best.

[Holidayromp]

No hurry OP - DD2 was exclusively breastfed until 15 months and DS was about 9 months before introducing solids. Breastmilk is the best thing for him. Wait until he is a little older and perhaps offer him finger foods etc other than that don't stress about it. Once he starts showing interested in your food then that is when you start trying.

[Liadan]

Food is FUN before ONE.

Until the age of ONE, the MAJORITY of the nutrients that he gets, should be from breastmilk. Before one, food is for tasting, and learning about the textures.

My DD wasn't interested in food until she was about 7.5mo, and she now has a healthy appetite.

ETA: RE your breasts never feeling full, and your DS not feeding for long. They get VERY efficient with feeding, they get more faster, so they don't have to feed for as long. And you are probably making just the right amount.

This post has been edited by Liadan: 05/05/2012, 11:08 PM

[jill1972]

my dd took no interest in solids until she was 12mthis old. Prior to that she was exclusively breastfed. Don't worry about it, at that age especially. Everything evens out in the end.

[bluedragon]

It is good that you have appointments to get everything checked out, hopefully they will put your mind at ease or if there is a problem help you get it sorted.

If there is no underlying medical problem I would continue with BLW. My DS has only really started consuming large amounts of food at 11 months. I have been through the worry and self doubt about if what I'm doing is the right thing but I'm sure it is and he is fine. He has dropped a bit percentile wise but not as much as yours, but he is strong, healthy, happy and on the go! It has seemed like he would never eat sometimes but he is getting there, just slowly.

The continued breastfeeding can be draining. I'm eating more than DH at the moment (he is significantly bigger than me) but am just making sure I eat healthily and continue to take my vitamins to ensure he is getting what he needs through my milk.

I hope you get some answers about the weight loss.

ETA was going to mention to offer food during normal family meal times to include you little one in the social aide of food. Always give some finger food at each meal and then don't concentrate on it (obviously keeping an eye out safety wise). I've found DS eats significantly more while DH and I just converse over meals than if attention is on him or on what he is eating.

This post has been edited by bluedragon: 05/05/2012, 11:20 PM

[BabeBlossom]

Dropping more than 2 percentile groups down the weight chart is grounds for declaring failure to thrive. My daughter sounds similar to your child in that she dropped 3.
Her paed said some kids just do it, especially when breastfed and there could be no cause for concern. But in our case my DD had started to sleep poorly and wasn't her usually happy self.
We took her off wheat and everything changed, she's going up the charts and sleeps through the night(YAY!) We are now looking at a wheat challenge to diagnose Coeliacs.
It might be nothing but it might be food allergies, follow up with those appointments and maybe have a hard think about what you're eating that's going through the breastmilk and if this affects your child etc.

[joshuakalan]

I would not be too concerned at this stage. Perhaps as he is fed on demand he never has the 'opportunity' to feel hungry.

Have you tried when he has looked for the breast and offered food instead?

Or, maybe he is just not ready for it yet. I have twins and one took solids much earlier than the other. To begin with they were both slow on 'wanting' solids. It probably took about 4 weeks for them to take more than 2 mouthfuls.

[lucky 2]

Until the age of ONE, the MAJORITY of the nutrients that he gets, should be from breastmilk. Before one, food is for tasting, and learning about the textures.

I don't know where this information comes from, I don't mean to be rude but everything I read doesn't say that, it talks about complementary foods starting at 6 months and covers the ages of 6-24 months.
From what I read food does have relevence before one, it isn't just for fun.
I read WHO publications on Complimentary feeding and bfing related texts, Govt health department guidelines etc.
It's not that I think it's an emergency if other foods are not taken at 7. 5 months, I understand that breast milk continues to provide substantially to caloric intake and micro and macro nutrients but as the baby grows other foods slowly increase in importance.
In general it wouldn't be concerning for an otherwise healthy baby not taking solids at 7.5 months but to minimise the importance of other foods before the one year mark concerns me.
So if anyone has any links or recommendations for me to look at which backs up the "fun until one" concept I really would like to do some more reading.
Thanks+.

[zara-b]

Thank you all so much for the considered and very helpful responses. There is so much great advice in these posts, and I've made a list of things to try based on all your responses. I have an appointment lined up with a paediatrician, so hopefully he will be able to help further, as after a visit to the early childhood centre again this morning, I discovered that my baby's weight has been slipping even further down the growth charts (he is not losing weight, just not gaining as much as he should be, and is now between the 5th and 10th percentiles, so technically 'failure to thrive' ). I am also going to contact the ABA to see if they can give me some advice about boosting my milk supply while I wait for my baby to become interested in solids...

Thanks again so much for all the great advice!